In the pharmaceutical industry, one of the most perplexing problems is that of counting pills. Usually this activity is done manually and this results in a slowing down of the filling of prescriptions. Attempts have been made in the past to provide apparatus for automatically counting pills, but they have in general been complex, inaccurate, and subject to frequent breakdown. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.
It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide a pill counter having a high degree of accuracy.
Another object of this invention is the provision of a pill counter which is portable and only requires connection to electrical outlet.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of a pill counter which is simple in construction, which is inexpensive to manufacture, and which is capable of a long life of useful service.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a counter for medicinal pills in which a tray along which the pills travel in independent of electrical apparatus and which may be removed and cleaned without difficulty.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of a pill counter that includes a photoelectric device and an inclined tray having dividing walls which cause the pills to pass a reading area seriatim.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of a pill counter, including a photoelectric counter with circuitry to guarantee that false readings do not take place.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a pill counter, including an inclined tray having dividing walls defining passages, wherein the walls are arranged that two pills side-by-side cannot block the entrance to a passage.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.